Fermi Ma

I am a Simons-Berkeley Postdoctoral Fellow hosted by Prof. Umesh Vazirani. I earned my Ph.D. at Princeton in 2021, where I was advised by Prof. Mark Zhandry. I received my B.S. in mathematics from MIT.

My research focuses on quantum computing and its implications for cryptography, complexity theory, and physics. [Research Statement] [CV]

Teaching: In Spring 2023, I co-taught CS:294-236. Cryptography in a Quantum World with Umesh Vazirani.

Contact: [email protected]

Papers

  1. How to Construct Random Unitaries
    Fermi Ma and Hsin-Yuan Huang
    [paper] [slides] [talk + panel @ Simons Quantum Colloquium]

  2. A One-Query Lower Bound for Unitary Synthesis and Breaking Quantum Cryptography
    Alex Lombardi, Fermi Ma, and John Wright
    STOC 2024, QIP 2024
    Covered in Quanta magazine
    [paper] [slides] [talk @ QIP 2024]

  3. Commitments to Quantum States
    Sam Gunn, Nathan Ju, Fermi Ma, and Mark Zhandry
    STOC 2023, QIP 2023
    Invited to the SICOMP Special Issue for STOC 2023
    [paper] [slides] [talk @ Simons Institute]

  4. Post-Quantum Zero Knowledge, Revisited (or: How to Do Quantum Rewinding Undetectably)
    Alex Lombardi, Fermi Ma, and Nicholas Spooner
    FOCS 2022, QIP 2023
    [paper] [slides]

  5. Succinct Classical Verification of Quantum Computation
    James Bartusek, Yael Kalai, Alex Lombardi, Fermi Ma, Giulio Malavolta, Vinod Vaikuntanathan, Thomas Vidick, and Lisa Yang
    CRYPTO 2022
    [paper]

  6. Post-Quantum Succinct Arguments: Breaking the Quantum Rewinding Barrier
    Alessandro Chiesa, Fermi Ma, Nicholas Spooner, and Mark Zhandry
    FOCS 2021, QIP 2022
    Invited to the SICOMP Special Issue for FOCS 2021
    [paper] [slides] [talk @ Simons Quantum Colloquium]

  7. One-Way Functions Imply Secure Computation in a Quantum World
    James Bartusek, Andrea Coladangelo, Dakshita Khurana, and Fermi Ma
    CRYPTO 2021, QIP 2021
    Long plenary talk at QIP 2021
    [paper]

  8. On the Round Complexity of Secure Quantum Computation
    James Bartusek, Andrea Coladangelo, Dakshita Khurana, and Fermi Ma
    CRYPTO 2021, QIP 2021
    [paper]

  9. Does Fiat-Shamir Require a Cryptographic Hash Function?
    Yilei Chen, Alex Lombardi, Fermi Ma, and Willy Quach
    CRYPTO 2021
    [paper] [slides]

  10. Leakage-Resilient Key Exchange and Two-Seed Extractors
    Xin Li, Fermi Ma, Willy Quach, and Daniel Wichs
    CRYPTO 2020
    [paper]

  11. Affine Determinant Programs: A Framework for Obfuscation and Witness Encryption
    James Bartusek, Yuval Ishai, Aayush Jain, Fermi Ma, Amit Sahai, and Mark Zhandry
    ITCS 2020
    [paper] [slides]

  12. On the (In)security of Kilian-Based SNARGs
    James Bartusek, Liron Bronfman, Justin Holmgren, Fermi Ma, and Ron D. Rothblum
    TCC 2019
    [pdf] [slides]

  13. Public-Key Function Private Hidden Vector Encryption and More
    James Bartusek, Brent Carmer, Abhishek Jain, Zhengzhong Jin, Tancrède Lepoint, Fermi Ma, Tal Malkin, Alex J. Malozemoff, and Mariana Raykova
    ASIACRYPT 2019
    [paper] [slides]

  14. The Distinction Between Fixed and Random Generators in Group-Based Assumptions
    James Bartusek, Fermi Ma, and Mark Zhandry
    CRYPTO 2019
    [paper] [slides]

  15. New Techniques for Obfuscating Conjunctions
    James Bartusek, Tancrède Lepoint, Fermi Ma, and Mark Zhandry
    EUROCRYPT 2019
    [paper] [slides]

  16. Return of GGH15: Provable Security Against Zeroizing Attacks
    James Bartusek, Jiaxin Guan, Fermi Ma, and Mark Zhandry
    TCC 2018
    [paper] [slides]

  17. The MMAP Strikes Back: Obfuscation and New Multilinear Maps Immune to CLT13 Zeroizing Attacks
    Fermi Ma and Mark Zhandry
    TCC 2018
    [paper] [slides]

  18. Encryptor Combiners: A Unified Approach to Multiparty NIKE, (H)IBE, and Broadcast Encryption
    Fermi Ma and Mark Zhandry
    [paper]

Talks

  1. How to Construct Random Unitaries [slides]
    UT Austin (Nov 2024)
    Simons Quantum Colloquium (Nov 2024) [video: talk + panel discussion]
    Stanford Q-FARM Workshop on Thermalization and Quantum Information (Nov 2024) [video]
    Institute for Advanced Study Quantum Information and Physics Workshop (Aug 2024)
    Simons Insitute Workshop (May 2024)

  2. A One-Query Lower Bound for Unitary Synthesis and Breaking Quantum Cryptography [slides]
    Berkeley Theory Lunch (April 2024)
    QIP 2024 (January 2024) [video]
    Stanford Theory Lunch (December 2023)
    MIT Theory of Computation Colloquium (November 2023)
    Waterloo Quantum Innovators 2023 (Nov 2023)

  3. Quantum Commitments and Black Hole Radiation Decoding [slides]
    Simons Quantum Summer Cluster Workshop (July 2023) [video]

  4. Commitments to Quantum States [slides]
    Simons Minimal Complexity Assumptions for Cryptography Workshop (May 2023) [video]
    Stanford (January 2023)
    Charles River Crypto Day (December 2022)

  5. Post-Quantum Zero Knowledge, Revisited [slides]
    QIP 2023 (Feburary 2023) [video]
    FOCS 2022 (November 2022)

  6. Quantum Rewinding Tutorial [slides part 1] [slides part 2]
    IPAM Graduate Summer School on Post-quantum and Quantum Cryptography (July 2022)
    Simons Quantum and Lattices Joint Reunion Workshop (June 2022)
    Part 1: Introduction to Quantum Rewinding [video]
    Part 2: How to Rewind a Quantum Attacker Many Times [video]

  7. Post-Quantum Succinct Arguments: Breaking the Quantum Rewinding Barrier [slides]
    QIP 2022 (March 2022)
    Simons Quantum Colloquium (October 2021) [video] [panel discussion]
    QCRYPT 2021 (August 2021)
    MIT Cryptography and Information Security Seminar (May 2021)
    Weizmann + Tel Aviv University Seminar (April 2021)
    Cornell Crypto Seminar (April 2021)
    NTT Research (April 2021)

  8. Quantum Security and Fiat-Shamir for Cryptographic Protocols [slides]
    PhD Defense Talk (August 2021)

  9. Does Fiat-Shamir Require a Cryptographic Hash Function? [slides]
    CRYPTO 2021 (August 2021)
    UIUC (November 2020)
    NTT Research (August 2020)

  10. On the (In)security of Kilian-Based SNARGs [slides]
    Tokyo Crypto Day (December 2019)
    Charles River Crypto Day (November 2019)

  11. Public-Key Function-Private Hidden Vector Encryption (and More) [slides]
    ASIACRYPT 2019 (December 2019)

  12. The Distinction Between Fixed and Random Generators in Group-Based Assumptions [slides]
    CRYPTO 2019 (August 2019)

  13. Affine Determinant Programs: A New Approach to Obfuscation [slides]
    New Roads to Cryptopia, a CRYPTO 2019 affiliated event (August 2019)

  14. New Techniques for Obfuscating Conjunctions [slides]
    EUROCRYPT 2019 (May 2019)
    New York Crypto Day (May 2019)
    UC Berkeley Cryptography Seminar (February 2019)
    Weizmann Cryptography Seminar (February 2019)
    Technion Theory Lunch (January 2019)
    IDC Herzliya (January 2019)
    SRI International (August 2018)

  15. A Weak Model for the CLT13 Multilinear Maps [slides]
    TCC 2018 (November 2018)
    UCLA Cryptography Seminar (April 2018)

Service

I have served on (or will serve on) the following program committees: